Formative Assessment Ideas and Explanation

1. S
Formative Assessment
Plan
By Sabah Memon
EDUC 310- Dr. Pelech
Due: May 8, 2015

2. What is Formative
Assessment?
S Formative or informal assessment is ongoing, non-
standardized assessment, used by teachers to monitor
the progress and success of students in reaching the
objectives of a lesson. Formative assessment occurs in a
variety of ways to appeal to different teaching and
learning styles and helps teachers determine whether
any changes in the lesson need to be made to improve
student learning. A variety of methods and strategies can
be used to achieve this goal!

3. S
INDIVIDUAL
ACTIVITIES
The following are some examples of
activities that are quick and simple,
but will yield significant information
about individual student learning

4. EXIT PASSES
S Many teachers make excellent use of exit passes. Exit
passes include short, written responses at the end of a
lesson where students show what they have learned.
These can be a 3-2-1, where students write three things
they learned, two things they want to know more about,
and one question they still have. It could be a short
response to a specific question, multiple choice
questions, or other any format that works best for that
lesson.
S Two student samples are shown on the next slide:

5. Exit Passes:A simple summary of
what the student
learned
This student responded
to a comment from a
paper.

6. Top 3 Lists:
Top 3 lists are a great way to get
students to thing harder about
what they learned that day.
Students must go back and think
about what they now know, and
rank the top three items they
learned with a short explanation of
why they think it was most
important.
A student example is shown to the
right:

7. Think/Puzzle/Explore
S Students write about
what they think they
know, what puzzles
them, and how they want
to explore a topic. This is
a great activity to assess
prior knowledge and to
get students thinking
about a new lesson. This
is great with partners,
too! Here’s an example:

8. Compass Activity: (Description
is in the image)

9. S
GOUP OR PARTNER
ACTIVITIES
The following are some examples of
activities that include working with
peers, contributing aloud, or as a
whole group.

10. Oral Activities:
S While any of the above activities can be modified to be partner-work or
group activities, some oral activities are fun and quick to do with a whole
class.
S At the end of a lesson, board-share is great for visual and oral learners,
where the students contribute the knowledge and comprehension they have
gained from the lesson and the teacher maps it out on the board. This can
be formal, on a projector, or just written out.
S Additionally, having students share their ideas or respond to a topic with a
partner is an easy and effective way to assess understanding. This is great
for those interpersonal learners, too! The teacher can listen around and
assess the depth of student learning and who may need more help.
S Simply asking a few questions or having students repeat back to you what
they know is another easy way to do formative assessment.

11. Some other ideas:
S A favorite of students is using poster paper and letting students
write and draw about a topic. Have different groups work on
different topics and then play I-Spy where one or two students
go around and “spy” what other groups have written. They
report back to their group when they’ve “spied” around.
S Simply walking around while students are working is a great
way to catch students “doing something good”, as my professor
would say. Silent monitoring added with a written record of
each students progress over time is a great way to perform
long-term formative assessment.

12. S
A Formative
Assessment Plan!
An effective use of formative assessment is to
use the information and data gained about
student learning and modify your lesson for
the better. Teachers are always making their
teaching better for every group of students
and their needs. The following is an example
of a formative assessment plan for future use:

13. Formative Assessment Plan:

14. THANKS!